"Paul did what a
lot of us do when we are new believers. He did
what made sense. You have to admire his
courage and zeal; he wanted to return to those
who knew him to tell them what’s happened to
him! It’s just like us—we got saved and
wanted to tell everybody about it! Our friends,
family, co-workers—we thought the minute
they saw us, they would be happy for us and
as excited about Jesus as we were! I am
certain that Paul thought the minute he told
them what happened to him on that Damascus
road, they would fall on their face and receive
Jesus, too. He was wrong."

Acts 28:17-31

Friday Evening Service • November 30, 2018 • Ron Arbaugh

"Jesus said: 'The Holy Spirit
spoke the truth to your forefathers when
he said through Isaiah the prophet 'Go to this people and say, "You will
be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never
perceiving." Basically, Isaiah
is saying, “If you reject Jesus, it doesn’t
matter what you hear or see. He is the
only way to truly see God.” There are
people today who say the same thing: “I
have my own relationship with God. I
don’t have to go through Jesus.” Or, “God
and me have an agreement. He
understands the way I am.” Not true. The
biggest tragedy of all is that it was always
God’s desire to heal them. THAT is what
they missed out on."

Acts 28:1-16

Friday Evening Service • November 23, 2018 • Ron Arbaugh

"Did God
have Paul protected or not? Did Paul find favor
with Julius or not? Did God send an angel to
let Paul know everything would be alright or
not? The same thing is true for all of us in the
middle of storms—if you stay with Jesus, I
promise you will land safely on some shore. I
like calling this shore a ‘shore of grace.’"